In the video above, Syrian children tell some of the horrors they experienced in the final days of ISIS in Raqqa. (video: VOA/YouTube)

Al Azhar reacts to massacre at U.S church(Fides) Violent acts “which desecrate the holiness of places of worship and destroy innocent lives threaten the people’s stability and security.” And the shedding of innocent blood, irrespective of race and the religion of the victims, “is forbidden by all religions.” With these words, the University of Al Azhar, the main academic and theological center of Sunni Islam, expressed in a formal statement the condolences to the victims of the massacre carried out on Sunday, 5 November by a former military in a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas...

Rebuilding ‘Hell Square’ in Syria’s Raqqa(Voice of America) In mid-October, ISIS was driven out of Raqqa as the remaining families fled the battle. Making the city once again livable, according to officials, is now an overwhelming task complicated by a political deadlock. Rebuilding lives after mass trauma, they add, may be close to impossible...

Maronite patriarch urges ‘vigilance over any sabotage scheme aimed at undermining Lebanon’(Fides) Following the sudden resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, “there must be vigilance and full awareness against any sabotage plot or scheme aimed at undermining stability in the country.” This is how Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Rai voiced regret over Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s shock resignation, warning of the destabilizing effects that this choice might have on the fragile national balance...

Archbishop emeritus S. Michael Augustine of India dies(Vatican Radio) Archbishop Emeritus S. Michael Augustine of Pondicherry-Cuddalore diocese of India passed away this morning in a local hospital. He served for 39 years as a bishop and 56 years as a priest till God called him to Himself at the age of 85...

Victims of ISIS in focus at U.N. forum(CNA) Persecuted religious minorities in Syria and Iraq deserve a better future after suffering at the hands of the Islamic State group. That was the message of Archbishop Bernadito Auza, the apostolic nuncio leading the Holy See’s permanent observer mission to the U.N. He said justice for the survivors “demands that we seek to return to them, as much as possible, what Daesh pillaged from them...”